UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

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SCHOOL  OF  LAW 
LIBRARY 


£ 

UZ 

vJ 


^UNITED   STATES 
GOVERNMENT    PUBLICATIONS 


A  Handbook  for  the  Cataloger 


Part  I.    The  Government  at  Large 

The  Constitution,  Statutes,  Treaties 


Compiled  by 

A..R.  HASSE 
«ii 

Chief  of  Document  Department.  New  York  PuMic  Library 


LIBRARY  BUREAU 

Boston  New  York  Philadelphia  Chicago  Washington  London 

1902 


Succeeding  parts 

Part  2. — The  Legislative  Body :  Congress,  the  Senate,  the  House 
of  Representatives. 

Part  3. — The  Executive  Body:  The  President,  the  executive  de- 
partments. 

Part  4. — The  Judiciary;  Government  institutions;  Government 
serials. 


PREFACE 

The  compiler  of  this  pamphlet  comes  forward  with  no  inten- 
tion to  establish  precedents  or  to  lay  down  rules. 

The  pamphlet  is  put  out  merely  in  the  hope  that  an  experi- 
ence of  ten  years  or  more  in  the  handling  of  "public  documents" 
may  warrant  this  offer  of  assistance  to  those  less  experienced. 

This  experience  has  demonstrated  to  the  compiler's  satisfac- 
tion that  in  the  preparation  of  a  catalog  of  official  literature 
more  is  involved  than  a  knowledge  of  the  rules  of  cataloging. 
In  fact  it  has  strengthened  the  conviction  that  the  mere  habitu- 
ating to  arbitrary  cataloging  rules  of  this  literature  is  often  a 
detriment  than  otherwise,  towards  making  it  accessible  for  library 
purposes.    Peculiarities  of  publication,  illustrated  by  the  "Treaty 
g     series"  of  Great  Britain  or  by  the  "Documents  Diplomatiques" 
of  France,  demand  recognition.  Such  peculiarities  may  be  isolated 
^s      instances,  whose  occurrence  cannot  be  foreseen,  and  whose  treat- 
^      ment  is  therefore  beyond  the  scope  of  rules  framed  for  the  average 
^      and  the  normal.     It  is  only  the  experienced  hand  that  will  apply 
the  proper  treatment  to  such  unusual  forms  of  publication. 

Existing  rules  have  been  framed  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  a 
certain  type  of  literature,  a  literature  with  authors,  a  literature  in 
volumes,  a  literature  on  a  given  subject,  in  fine  the  regular  litera- 
ture of  the  market.  For  a  long  time  the  compiler  tried  to  apply 
these  rules  as  they  existed  to  the  other  type  of  literature,  viz.: 
official  literature,  a  literature  as  a  rule  authorless,  so  far  as 
personal  names  are  concerned,  a  literature  having  whimsical 
relationship  in  its  parts  and  volumes  and  series,  a  literature 
alienated,  so  far  as  convenience  of  treatment  according  to  accepted 
forms  is  concerned,  entirely  from  the  ordinary  type  of  market 
literature.  At  last  it  appeared  that  in  those  instances  where 
official  literature  does  not  lend  itself  to  existing  rules,  the  most 
satisfactory  treatment  of  it  is  still  possible,  quite  reconcilable 
with  current  cataloging  customs,  providing  only  that  due  regard 
is  had  for  the  distinctions  of  official  literature. 


These  distinctions  are  the  rock  upon  which  many  catalogers 
have  come  to  grief. 

The  confusion  and  the  difficulties  that  often  surround  the 
cataloger  of  "government  documents"  are  almost  wholly  con- 
fined to  the  methods  of  author  entry,  and  it  is  this  form  of  entry 
only  that  is  considered  in  the  present  instance. 

The  cause  of  this  confusion  and  difficulty  is  usually  the 
failure  to  distinguish  between  author  and  publisher,  and  to 
recognize  that  officially  not  only  are  these  two  agents  some- 
times identical,  but  that  their  identity,  even  their  existence,  may 
be  so  obscured  that  only  a  careful  examination  into  the  origin  of 
the  authority  for  the  appearance  of  the  document  will  determine 
a  correct  and  proper  author  entry. 

In  the  case  of  general,  as  opposed  to  official,  literature,  there 
are  books  of  anonyms  and  pseudonyms  and  extensive  general 
catalogs  to  aid  the  cataloger.  In  the  case  of  official  literature, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  is  as  yet  only  the  slenderest  aid  in  print 
to  assist  the  cataloger  in  obtaining  the  correct  form  of  official 
author  entry.  In  the  United  States  the  excellent  catalogs 
issued  from  the  Office  of  the  Superintendent  of  Documents  have 
almost  entirely  done  away  with  any  difficulty  in  regard  to  current 
federal  documents.  With  the  appearance  of  the  promised  check 
list,  and  the  consequent  certifying  of  the  names  of  bureaus  no 
longer  existing,  and  the  former  names  of  present  bureaus,  this 
difficulty  will  be  entirely  done  away  with.  But  it  still  requires 
often  a  baffling  search  to  determine  the  correct  official  author 
entry  for  state  and  city  documents,  not  to  speak  of  the,  to  us 
generally  less  familiar,  foreign  documents. 

In  cases,  therefore,  where  divergence  is  suggested  from  ac- 
cepted methods,  it  is  not  done  in  a  spirit  of  reform  or  overrule, 
but  only  with  the  desire  that,  having  proved  by  actual  experience 
the  satisfactory  results  of  the  use  of  a  not  generally  accepted 
form,  its  exploitation  may  help  in  a  measure  to  minimize  some  of 
the  difficulties  of  the  cataloger. 

Bibliographical  detail  is  disregarded  as  being,  in  the  present 
instance,  a  matter  not  affecting  the  ultimate  result,  and  each 
library  may  therefore  retain  its  individualities  in  this  regard 
without  interfering  with  the  operation  of  the  suggestions  here 
attempted. 

4 


Those  forms  of  official  literature  to  which  consideration  is, 
for  the  present,  confined,  viz. :  the  constitution,  the  statutes  and 
treaties,  the  *  three  fundamental  manifestations  of  organized 
government,  are  the  three  forms  in  which  the  compiler's  treat- 
ment differs  most  widely  from  that  commonly  applied. 

Colonial  documents,  which,  if  included,  would  have  been 
represented  by  the  charters  and  laws,  it  has  not  been  deemed 
expedient  to  consider  at  this  time,  since  their  treatment  differs 
greatly  from  that  here  exploited  for  the  state  documents. 

It  would  perhaps  be  well  to  say  at  this  time  that,  while 
United  States  government  documents  are  the  absorbing  subject, 
the  forms  which  are  here  offered  to  the  cataloger  are  being  used 
by  the  compiler  with  very  satisfactory  resuts  in  the  cataloging 
of  the  documents  of  many  foreign  governments  and  dependen- 
cies. Examples  of  the  application  of  the  forms  to  foreign  docu- 
ments may  be  found  in  the  body  of  the  pamphlet. 

A.  R.  H. 

New  York  City,  1901 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Introduction      9 

The  Constitution     10 

Statutes      17 

Treaties      39 


United    States 
Government    Publications 


INTRODUCTION 


OFFICIAL    AUTHORS 

The  study  of  government  documents,  or  government  publi- 
cations, or  official  literature,  is  the  study  of  the  mechanism  of 
modern  government  as  expressed  in  its  publications ;  and  modern 
government,  classified  organically,  is  either  federal,  state,  or 
municipal. 

Each  of  the  forms  of  administrative  organization,  in  addition 
to  the  authority  of  the  organized  government  as  a  corporate 
body,  exercises  a  similar  series  of  functions,  viz. :  the  exercise 
of  the  legislative  power  of  the  government,  the  exercise  of  the 
executive  power,  and  the  exercise  of  the  judicial  power. 

The  authority  of  the  organized  government  as  a  corporate 
body  to  deliberate  and  enact  laws,  is  vested  in  the  legislative 
body ;  the  executive  body  is  that  body  which  carries  the  laws  into 
effect,  or  superintends  the  enforcement  of  them;  the  judicial 
body  is  that  branch  of  the  government  which  judges  or  deter- 
mines the  application  of  the  laws  to  particular  cases,  their  consti- 
tutionality, etc. 

Thus,  in  the  United  States,  these  bodies  are  respectively  the 
two  houses  of  Congress,  the  President  with  the  officials  subordi- 
nate to  him,  and  the  Supreme  Court. 

The  parallelism  of  the  functions  of  the  three  forms  of 
administrative  organization,  as  expressed  in  their  publications,  is 
as  follows :  the  authority  of  the  government  as  a  corporate  body 
is  expressed  in  the  federal  government  by  the  constitution,  stat- 
utes and  treaties,  in  the  state  governments  by  the  constitution 
and  statutes,  in  the  municipal  governments  by  the  charter  and 
ordinances. 


The  legislative  power  is  expressed  in  the  federal  government 
by  the  publications  of  Congress,  in  the  state  governments  by  the 
publications  of  the  legislature,  in  the  municipal  governments  by 
the  publications  bf  the  council. 

The  executive  power  is  expressed  in  the  federal  government 
by  the  publications  of  the  President  and  his  subordinates,  in  the 
state  governments  by  the  publications  of  the  governor  and  his 
subordinates,  in  the  municipal  governments  by  the  publications 
of  the  mayor  and  his  subordinates,  the  term  subordinates  includ- 
ing all  the  departments,  bureaus,  offices,  commissions,  etc.,  or- 
ganized by  authority. 

The  judicial  power  is  expressed  in  the  federal  government  by 
the  Supreme  Court  and  its  inferior  courts,  in  the  state  govern- 
ments by  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  superior  courts  of 
record  and  local  courts,  in  the  municipal  governments  by  the 
municipal  courts,  i.  e.,  those  local  or  special  tribunals  provided 
for  in  the  charter  and  called  by  different  names,  as  the  mayor's 
court,  recorder's  court,  city  court,  etc. 


THE    CONSTITUTION,    STATUTES, 
TREATIES 


THE  CONSTITUTION 

Federal.  The  constitution  is  the  fundamental  or  organic 
law  of  the  United  States.  Framed  by  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion which  met  in  Philadelphia,  May  25,  1787,  it  went  into  effect 
March  4,  1789.  It  is  a  document  comprised  in  seven  original 
articles  and  fifteen  amendatory  articles  or  amendments. 

There  is  in  existence  a  vast  literature  concerning  the 
American  constitution,  but  single  prints  of  the  document  are  not 
commonly  issued.  In  official  literature  copies  of  the  constitution 
are  now  most  frequently  found  in  the  rules  of  practice,  or 
manuals,  of  the  House  or  the  Senate.  A  very  important  contri- 
bution to  our  constitutional  history,  published  officially,  is  the 
Documentary  History  issued  in  parts  by  the  Bureau  of  Rolls 

10 


and  Library  as  appendices  to  its  bulletins.  A  "literal  print"  of  the 
constitution  was  also  issued  by  this  bureau  in  1895,  and  the  State 
Department  has  issued  a  facsimile  reprint. 

The  fact  of  its  being  either  privately  or  officially  printed, 
or,  if  officially  printed,  of  its  having  a  bureau  sponsor,  should  not 
affect  the  cataloging  of  copies  of  the  constitution.  These  facts 
may  be  considered  as  mere  incidents  of  publication,  the  original 
author  of  the  document  always  remaining  the  same.  The  follow- 
ing form  is  offered : 


United  States.  Constitution. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America ;  literal  print. 
Washington,  1895.     38  pp.     8°.     (Rolls  and  Library  Bureau.) 


Facsimile  of  card  used,  exact  size. 


United  States.  Constitution. 

The  constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America.     New 
London    S.  Green,  prtr.,  1799.     16  pp.     8°. 


II 


United  States.  Constitution. 

The  constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America ;  as 
proposed  by  the  convention,  held  at  Philadelphia,  September 
17,  1787,  and  since  ratified  by  the  several  states,  with  the 
several  amendments  thereto  .  .  .  Philadelphia,  J.  H.  Oswald, 
prtr.,  1799.  27  pp.  16°. 

Foreign 


Peru.  Constitution. 

Proyecto  de  reforma  de  la  constitucion  de  1860  conforme 
al  dictamen  del  consejo  gubernativo.  Lima:  Imp.  de  El  Pais. 
1896.  50,  xxvi  pp.  8°. 


Bases  organicas  de  la  Republica  Mexicana,  acordadas  por 
la  Honorable  Junta  Legislativa  establecida  conforme  a  los 
decretos  de  19.  y  23.  de  diciembre  de  1842,  y  sancionadas  por 
el  Supremo  Gobierno  provisional  con  arreglo  a  los  mismos 
decretos  el  dia  12  de  junio  del  ano  de  1843.  Mexico:  7.  M. 
Lara,  1843.  xi>  45  PP-  I2°-  (Mexico.  Constitution.) 

The  above  form  illustrates  a  title  entry,  the  author  entry  of 
which  is  indicated  by  the  italicized  words  in  curves  after  the 
imprint.  It  is  understood  of  course  that  in  addition  to  the  title 
card  a  full  author  card  is  made  and  filed. 

Bibliographies 

Channing  &  Hart.     Guide  to  the  study  of  Amer.  History.     Boston,  1896.     ch.  xvi. 
Ford  (P.  L.)      Bibliography  and  reference  list  of  the  history  and  literature  relating 

to  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  the  U.  S.  1787-1788.     Brooklyn,  1896. 

58  pp.     80. 
Foster   (W.  E.)     References  to  the  constitution  of  the  U.   S.     New  York,   1890. 

50  pp.     8°. 
Winsor  (J.)     Narrative  &  critical,  etc.     v.  7 :  255-266. 

12 


State.  The  government  of  each  of  the  commonwealths 
of  the  American  union  is  based  upon  an  organic  law  called  the 
constitution.  The  earlier  constitutions  were  confined  to  a  gen- 
eral outline  of  the  organization  of  the  government ;  they  did  not 
undertake  to  make  the  laws,  but  prescribed  the  conditions  under 
which  the  laws  might  be  made  and  executed.  Recent  state  con-, 
stitutions  enter  more  and  more  boldly  upon  the  general  work  of 
legislation,  and  the  constitutions  adopted  since  1870  have  been 
criticised  as  partaking  too  much  of  the  nature  of  a  code.  The 
motive  is  a  wish  to  put  certain  laws  into  such  shape  that  it  will 
be  difficult  to  repeal  them. 

A  state  constitution  may  be  amended  by  an  original  act  of 
the  legislature  ratified  by  a  vote  of  the  people ;  or  it  may  be 
amended  by  act  of  a  convention  called  for  that  purpose. 

In  making  the  author  entry  for  constitutions  and  constitu- 
tional conventions  it  is  well  to  distinguish  between  the  two  as  is 
shown  in  the  examples  here  given. 


Ohio.  Constitution. 

Constitution  of  the  state  of  Ohio,  agreed  upon  in  conven- 
tion May  14,  1874.  Columbus:  Nevins  &•  Myers,  state  prtrs., 
1874.  42  pp.  8°. 


Ohio.  Constitutional  Convention,  1873. 

Official  report  of  the  proceedings  and  debates  of  the  third 
constitutional  convention  of  Ohio,  assembled  in  the  city  of 
Columbus  .  .  .  May  13,  [and]  Cincinnati,  Dec.  2,  1873.  Cleve- 
land: W.  S.  Robinson  6-  Co.,  prtrs.,  1873-4.  2  v.  8°. 


South  Carolina.  Constitutional  Convention,  1832. 

Documents  ordered  by  the  convention  of  the  people  of 
South  Carolina,  to  be  transmitted  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  the  Governor  of  each  state.  Columbia: 
A.  S.  Johnston  &  Co.,  1832.  i  p.l.,  28  pp.,  i  p.L,  15,  16  pp.  8°. 


Texas.  Constitutional  Convention,  1832. 

Proceedings  of  the  General  Convention  of  delegates  rep- 
resenting the  citizens  and  inhabitants  of  Texas:  held  at  the 
town  of  San  Felipe,  in  Austin's  colony  .  .  .  Oct.,  1832. 
Brazoria,  1832.  44  pp.  8°. 


Wisconsin.  Constitution. 

Constitution  of  Wisconsin.  Message  from  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  transmitting  the  constitution  adopted  by 
the  delegates  of  the  people  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin.  Jan. 
21,  1847.  n.  t.  p.  1847.  31  pp.  8°.  (U.  S.  Cong.,  2.  sess., 
House.  Ex.  doc.  49.) 


Shepherd  (J.  W.) 

The  constitution,  and  ordinances,  adopted  by  the  state 
convention  of  Alabama,  which  assembled  at  Montgomery  on 
the  12  ...  Sept.,  1865.  With  index,  analysis  and  table  of 
titles.  Montgomery:  Gibson  &  Whitficld,  prtrs.,  1865.  80  pp. 
8°.  (Alabama.  Const.  Conv.  1865.) 

This  last  form  illustrates  a  personal  author  entry,  the 
italicized  words  in  curves  after  the  imprint  indicating  the  of- 
ficial author.  It  is  understood  of  course  that  in  addition  to  the 
personal  author  entry  the  official  author  card  is  made  and  filed. 

Foreign 


Yucatan.  Constitution. 

Constitucion  politica  del  estado  libre  de  Yucatan.  Sanci- 
onada  par  su  Congreso  constituyente  en  6  de  abril  1825. 
Merido  de  Yucatan:  Impresa  en  la  oficina  del  Sol,  1825. 
78,  v.  pp.  24°. 

Bibliographies 

General 

N.  Y.  State  Libr.  Bull.     Additions,  no.  2.     1894. 
Bowker.     State  publications.     New  England  States.     New  York,  1900.     4°. 

Special 

Alabama.     T.  L.  Cole  in  his  Bibliogr.  of  Ala.     So.  Hist.  Assn.  Pubs.  1896. 
Alabama.     T.  McA.  Owen  in  his  Bibliogr.  of  Ala.     Amer.  Hist.  Assn.  Rpt.   1897. 
Arkansas.     T.  L.  Cole  in  his  Bibliogr.  of  Ark.     So.  Hist.  Assn.  Pubs.  1897. 
California     Rpt.  Trustees  State  Libr.,   1892-1894. 

Florida.     T.  L.  Cole  in  his  Bibliogr.  of  Fla.     So.  Hist.  Assn.  Pubs.   1897. 
Indiana.     Howe.     Govt.   Pubs,  of  Indiana.     Indianapolis,    1891. 
Iowa.     T.  L.  Cole  in  his  Bibliogr.  of  Iowa.     Law  Bull.  Univ.  of  la.  no.  2,  1891. 
Kansas.     Kans.  Hist.  Socy.  Coll.  1899. 
Maine.     Williamson's  Me.     Portland,   1896. 
North   Carolina.     S.   B.   Weeks   in   his   Bibliogr.   of   N.   C.     Harvard   Univ.   Bull. 

nos.  55-58. 

Rhode  Island.     J.  R.  Bartlett  in  his  Bibliogr.  of  R.  I.     Providence,  1864. 
Texas.     Raines  in  his  Bibliogr.  of  Texas.     Austin,    1896. 
Wisconsin.     Baker.     Wise,  const,  conventions.     Wise.  Hist.  Socy.  Proc.   1897. 


Municipal.  The  government  of  American  cities  is  based  upon 
an  instrument  called  a  charter,  framed  by  the  municipality  and 
ratified  by  act  of  the  state  legislature.  While  it  is  true  that  in 
the  last  analysis,  therefore,  a  city  charter  is  a  statute  of  the  state, 
primarily  it  is  the  organic  law  of  the  city,  and  it  is  more  logically 
cataloged  in  conformity  with  this  its  functional  purpose. 

In  many  cases  the  charter  and  ordinances  of  a  city  are  pub- 
lished in  one  volume  as  a  single  document,  the  prominence  being 
given  sometimes  to  the  charter,  sometimes  to  the  ordinances,  as 
illustrated  by  the  first  two  examples  below.  In  these  cases  it  is 
well  in  making  the  main  author  entry  to  be  guided  by  the  title 
page,  entering  the  charter  or  the  ordinances,  according  to  which 
may  be  emphasized  on  the  title  page,  being  careful  to  refer  from 
the  other. 

In  the  older  cities,  where  the  charter  probably  has  undergone 
frequent  revision,  a  chronological  arrangement  of  entries  is  sug- 
gested. See  N.  Y.  P.  L.  Bulletin,  Jan.,  1901. 


Syracuse  (N.  Y.)  Charter. 

Charter  and  ordinances  of  the  city  of  Syracuse,  together 
with  the  rules  of  the  Common  Council,  the  rules  and  regula- 
tions of  the  Police  and  Fire  Departments  and  the  Civil  Service 
regulations.  Syracuse:  Syracuse  Journal  Co.,  prtrs.,  1885. 
388  pp.  8°. 


Ann  Arbor  (Mich.)  Ordinances. 

Revised  ordinances  of  1896.  Charter  and  ordinances  of 
the  city  of  Ann  Arbor.  Ann  Arbor:  The  Inland  Press,  1896. 
I  p.l.,  227,  Ixii  pp.  8°. 

16 


Elmira  (N.  Y.)  Charter. 

Revised  charter  of  ...  Elmira,  with  the  several  acts  ap- 
plicable to  the  city  and  officers  thereof.  Elmira:  Gazette  Co., 
1898.  viii,  i  p.l.,  385  pp.  8°. 


Brooklyn    (N.   Y.)  Charter. 

Charter  of  the  City  of  Brooklyn.  Passed  April  17,  1854, 
to  take  effect  Jan.  i,  1855.  Williamsburgh:  L.  Darbee  &  Son, 
prtrs.,  1854.  64  pp.  8°. 


THE  STATUTES 

Federal.  The  statutes  of  the  federal  government  may  be 
considered  a  publication  of  the  government  at  large,  together  with 
the  constitution.  They  are  the  joint  resolves  of  the  representa- 
tives elected  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  the  govern- 
ment of  that  people.  They  are  not  the  product  of  either  the 
Senate  or  the  House  of  Representatives  alone,  not  do  they 
originate  in  Congress,  or  in  either  body  of  Congress.  The  nature 
of  the  origin  of  these  publications  makes  it  impossible  to  subor- 
dinate them  to  any  one  body  or  office. 

This  argument  evidently  holds  good  only  for  a  republican  and 
constitutional-monarchical  form  of  government,  but  the  direct 
treatment  of  statutes  is  recommended  for  all  forms  of  govern- 
ment, as  being  at  once  expedient,  simple  and  adapted  to  all 
countries. 

In  the  United  States  there  are  at  present  six  kinds,  or  stages 
rather,  of  the  statutes.  They  are  as  follows :  bills  and  resolutions 
(first  and  preliminary  form)  ;  acts  (second  form)  ;  slip  laws 
(third  form)  ;  session  laws  (fourth  form) ;  statutes-at-large 
(fifth  form)  ;  revised  statutes  (sixth  form). 

17 


Bills  and  Resolutions 

The  preliminary  form  of  the  statutes,  bills  or  resolutions,  is 
never  sent  to  libraries,  except  as  single  copies  of  a  bill  or  resolu- 
tion may  be  of  especial  local'  interest,  and  for  that  reason  desir- 
able for  preservation  in  a  library.  Even  then  the  library  may 
have  some  difficulty  in  securing  a  copy,  as  only  625  copies  of  a 
public  bill  and  250  copies  of  a  private  bill  are  printed. 

The  distinction  between  bills  and  resolutions  has  been  ob- 
secured  somewhat  by  the  practice  of  recent  years;  generally  it  is 
this :  a  bill  is  a  form  or  draft  of  a  proposed  statute,  a  resolution 
is  a  formal  proposition  presented  for  discussion  and  adoption. 

Bills  are  of  two  kinds,  public  and  private.  A  private  bill  is 
one  providing  relief  for  a  private  party,  a  bill  granting  a  pension, 
or  a  bill  removing  a  political  disability.  (Supp.  R.  S.,  v.  2:349.) 
All  other  bills  are  public  bills. 

Public  bills  are  again  popularly  classified  according  to  the 
purpose  for  which  they  were  framed,  as,  appropriation  bills, 
deficiency  bills,  sundry  civil  bills,  etc. ;  or  they  become  known 
by  the  name  of  the  framer  or  advocate  of  the  bill,  as  Dingley  bill, 
Torrey  bankrupt  law,  etc. 

The  enacting  clause  of  all  bills,  except  appropriation  bills, 
is:  "Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled".  (R.  S.  sec.  f.) 
The  enacting  clause  of  all  appropriation  bills  is :  "An  Act  making 
appropriations  [object]  for  the  year  ending  June  30  [year]. 
(R.  S.  sec.  n.) 

Bills  are  numbered  serially  throughout  a  Congress  for  the 
Senate  and  House  respectively,  and  their  designation  is  abbrevi- 
ated thus:  S.  [no.]  for  Senate  bills  and  H.  R.  [no.]  for  House  bills. 

A  bill  must  have  three  readings  before  it  is  passed,  and  must 
have  the  approval  of  the  President  before  it  becomes  operative. 

Resolutions  are  of  three  kinds,  simple,  joint  and  concurrent. 

Simple  resolutions  are  used  to  express  the  purpose,  intent, 
or  desire  of  that  body  of  Congress  in  which  they  originate. 
They  are  printed  in  the  form  of  bills,  and  like  bills  they  arc 
numbered  serially  throughout  a  Congress.  They  are  designated 
thus: 


55th  Congress 
ad  seas. 

House 

of  Representatives 

Resolution 

45 

The  enacting  word  is  simply,  Resolved: 

Joint  resolutions  are  propositions  to  give  authority  or  direc- 
tions to  public  officers  in  certain  respects ;  to  give  the  consent 
of  Congress  on  occasions  when  such  consent  is  required ;  to  con- 
tinue in  force  appropriations,  and,  generally,  measures  whose 
operation  is  limited  to  certain  specific  occasions  or  periods  and 
which  are  not  designed  to  be  permanent  law,  are  expressed  by 
joint  resolutions.  The  resolving  clause  of  all  joint  resolutions  is 
in  the  following  form :  "Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  in  Congress  assembled".  Joint  resolutions,  like 
bills,  are  numbered  serially  throughout  a  Congress  in  the  order 
of  their  introduction,  and  their  designation  is  abbreviated  thus: 
H.  Res.  [no.]  for  House  joint  resolution;  S.  R.  [no.]  for  Senate 
joint  resolution. 

A  joint  resolution,  like  bills,  must  have  three  readings  before 
it  is  passed,  and  must  be  approved  by  the  President  before  it 
becomes  operative. 

Concurrent  resolutions  are  employed  where  the  assent  of  the 
two  Houses  only  is  considered  necessary.  Thus  when  appro- 
priations have  been  made  for  the  use  of  the  two  Houses,  such 
as  the  appropriation  for  printing,  the  expenditure  of  the  fund  is 
authorized  and  directed  by  concurrent  resolution. 

The  practice  for  many  years  has  been  not  to  present  con- 
current resolutions  to  the  President  for  his  approval,  though  the 
language  of  the  constitution  seems  strictly  to  require  that  all 
concurrent  resolutions,  except  such  as  relate  to  the  adjournment 
of  the  two  Houses,  should  be  approved  by  the  President. 

Concurrent  and  simple  resolutions  are,  under  the  act  of 
January  12,  1895,  numbered  serially  and  printed  in  bill  form. 
The  designation  of  concurrent  resolutions  is: 


55th  Congress 
2d  sess. 

House  of 

Representatives 

Con.  Res. 
no.  7 

The  essential  points  in  cataloging  a  United  States  bill  or 
resolution  are:  first,  title,  date  and  number;  second,  status;  third, 
accompanying  documents. 

The  title  of  a  bill  always  precedes  the  enacting  clause,  and 
should  be  followed  closely  by  the  cataloger.  The  date  to  be 
used  is  that  of  introduction,  giving  day,  month  and  year.  The 

19 


number  of  the  bill  is  important,  for  the  reason  that  frequently 
totally  different  bills  of  the  same  title,  and  therefore  distinguish- 
able in  the  catalogue  by  number  only,  are  introduced  during  the 
period  of  one  Congress.  (See  forms  2  and  3  below.) 

The  entry  of  the  status  or  progress  of  a  bill  is  necessary 
to  distinguish  the  various  prints  of  a  bill ;  for  instance,  a  House 
bill,  having  passed  the  House,  is  transmitted  to  the  Senate  and 
introduced  as  an  Act  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  (See 
forms  2  and  4  below.) 

Frequently  a  bill  is  accompanied  by  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee to  which  the  bill  has  been  referred,  and  in  that  case  the 
number  of  such  report  should  appear  on  the  card  for  the  bill. 
(See  forms  3  and  4  below.) 

The  mode  of  entering  these  several  details  on  the  card  is,  of 
course,  optional  with  each  library,  and  the  forms  cited  below 
are  not  intended  to  be  copies  that  need  be  followed  implicitly 
so  far  as  the  structure  is  concerned. 

A  library  may  wish,  for  historical  or  other  purposes,  to 
collect  all  the  measures  on  a  given  subject,  as  the  Spanish 
American  War,  or  all  forms  of  a  given  measure,  as  the  Ship 
Subsidy  Bill.  In  this  case,  to  insure  completeness  of  prints, 
reference  should  be  made  to  the  index  to  bills  and  resolutions 
at  the  end  of  the  index  volume  of  the  Congressional  Record. 
Bills  and  resolutions  are  not  reprinted  in  full.  They  may  be 
found  by  title  in  the  Congressional  Record,  where  their  history 
may  be  traced  as  follows :  Use  index  to  bound  volumes  of  the 
Record,  and  under  subject  find  number  of  bill  or  resolution 
desired,  turn  to  back  of  index,  under  "History  of  Bills",  and 
under  number  of  bill  or  resolution  find  references  to  page  of 
Congressional  Record  on  various  stages  of  the  progress  of  the 
bill  upon  which  action  was  taken,  until  the  final  disposition  of  the 
bill.  The  "History  of  Bills"  is  divided  into  four  parts,  one  each 
for  Senate  and  House  bills  respectively,  and  one  each  for 
Senate  and  House  resolutions  respectively.  The  Record  is 
issued  in  a  daily  edition  during  sessions,  and  in  the  "permanent" 
or  bound  form  known  to  libraries.  The  former  edition  is  served 
with  a  bi-weekly  index,  which  in  the  permanent  edition  forms 
ag  independent  volume.  These  indexes  can  only  be  used  for 
the  editions  which  they  accompany. 

20 


Form  i 


United  States.  Statutes. 

A  bill  to  define  and  fix  the  standard  of  value,  to  main- 
tain the  parity  of  all  forms  of  money  issued  or  coined  by  the 
United  States  .  .  .  Introduced  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Over- 
street,  Dec.  4,  1899.  n.  p.  [1899]  IO  PP->  l  1-  4°-  (5^-  Cong. 
H.  R.  i.) 

— Same.     An    act   in   the    Senate.     Dec.    19,    1899.     18   pp. 
Jan.  4,  1900.     18  pp.,  i  1. ;  Feb.  15,  1900.     20  pp. ;  Feb.  23,  1900. 

34  PP- 

Amendments.     Jan.  8,  1900;  Jan.  15,  1900;  Jan.  31,  1900; 

Feb.  i,  1900. 


Form  2 


United  States.  Statutes. 

A  bill  to  provide  for  temporarily  increasing  the  military 
establishment  of  the  United  States  in  time  of  War  .  .  .  Intro- 
duced in  the  House  by  Mr.  Hull,  Apr.  19,  1898.  n.  p.  [1898.] 
8  PP-  4°-  (55-  Cong.  H.  R.  9944.) 

—Same.     An  act.     In  the  House,  Apr.  20,  1898. 

—Same.     In  the  Senate,  Apr.  21,  1898.     10  pp. 

Same.     Introduced  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Wheeler.  Apr.  23, 

1898.     i  1.     4°.     (H.  R.  10069.) 

Same.     April  29,   1898.     [To  ace.]     Report   1232.     3  pp. 


21 


Form 


United  States.  Statutes. 

A  bill  for  the  better  organization  of  the  line  of  the  Army 
of  the  United  States,  March  23,  1898.  [To  ace.]  Report  795. 
n.  p.  [1898]  6  pp.  4°.  (55.  Cong.  H.  R.  9253.) 

Same.     Introduced  in  the  House  by  Mr.  Hull,  Apr.  15, 

1898.     (H.  R.  9878.) 

Same.     Apr.  21,  1898.     [To  ace.]     Rept.  1138. 


Form 


United  States.  Statutes. 

A  bill  to  provide  for  a  temporary  increase  in  the  Inspec- 
tor-General's Department  of  the  Army.  Introduced  in  the 
House  by  Mr.  Hull,  May  23,  1898.  n.  p.  [1898.]  i  1.  4°. 
(55.  Cong.  H.  R.  10424.) 

Same.     May  25,  1898.     [To  ace.]     Report  1446. 

Same.     An  act  ...     In  the  Senate  .  .  .     June  29,  1898. 


-Same.     June  30,  I 


Acts 

Succeeding  the  preliminary  form  of  statutes,  or  bills  and 
resolutions,  a  measure  in  its  progress  towards  becoming  a  law 
appears  as  an  act.  Acts  are  bills  that  have  passed  both  Houses 
of  Congress,  and  that  are  awaiting  the  President's  signature. 
They  are  not  yet  laws.  Their  outward  form  is  the  same  as  that 
of  bills,  and  like  bills  they  are  never  sent  to  libraries.  In  cata- 
loging them,  acts  may  be  treated  like  bills  and  resolutions. 

The  word  "act"  as  used  here  should  not  be  confounded  with 
the  same  word  as  used  in  the  former  examples  for  bills  and  reso- 

22 


lutions.  There  it  is  ui  ~d  to  designate  a  measure  which  has 
passed  one  House  and  hereby  become  an  act  of  that  House. 
Here  it  is  used  to  designate  a  measure  that  has  passed  both 
Houses,  and  thereby  become  an  act  of  Congress. 


Slip  Laws 

The  third  form  of  statutes,  called  slip  laws,  is  an  octavo  print 
of  the  act  after  it  has  received  the  President's  signature,  and  it  is 
the  first  print  of  the  measure  as  a  law.  Slip  laws  are  classified 
into  Public  and  Private  Laws  and  Resolutions,  and  consist  only  of 
the  text  of  the  law,  with  date  of  approval  and  the  heading: 
Public  (or  Private)  No.  [  ].  They  are  never  bound,  nor 

are  they  distributed  to  libraries,  but  are  used  mainly  in  making 
up  the  session  laws. 

The  essential  features  of  the  slip  law  to  the  cataloger  are  the 
title  and  date  of  approval.  Slip  laws  have  two  serial  numberings 
for  bills,  i.  e.,  one  for  public  and  one  for  private  bills,  and  a  sepa- 
rate numbering  for  resolutions.  None  of  these  numberings  need 
be  regarded  by  the  cataloger,  as  they  are  used  nowhere  else,  and 
have  no  reference.  All  slip  laws  and  joint  and  concurrent  reso- 
lutions are  now  reprinted  in  the  sessional  or  pamphlet  laws  and 
in  the  statutes-at-large.  Reference  to  either  or  both  of  these 
compilations  is  optional. 


United  States.  Statutes. 

An  Act  for  the  reclassification  of  naval  vessels.     Approved 
March  8,  1898.     n.  t.  p.  [1898.]     8pp.     8°.     (55  Cong.     Pub. 
no.  81.) 
Same.     Stat.  L.  v.  32,  p.  219. 


Pamphlet  or  Session  Laws 

This,  the  fourth  form  of  the  statutes,  commonly  called  the 
pamphlet  or  session  laws,  is  a  chronologically  arranged  compila- 
tion of  the  slip  laws  for  any  one  session  of  Congress,  supplied 
with  a  title  page  and  an  index,  and  bound  in  paper  covers.  This 
form  of  the  statutes  is  by  law  distributed  to  depository  libraries. 
It  contains  the  laws,  resolutions,  treaties  and  proclamations  issued 
during  any  one  session  of  Congress. 

Suggestions  for  cataloging  pamphlet  laws  may  be  found 
below,  in  the  paragraph  under  revised  statutes. 


Statutes-at-Large 

This,  the  fifth  form  of  the  statutes, .  is  a  compilation  by 
Congress  of  the  session  laws.  Each  volume  is  supplied  with  a 
new  title-page  and  index.  The  volumes  are  bound  in  sheep,  and 
contain  the  laws,  resolutions,  treaties  and  proclamations  issued 
during  the  period  of  any  one  Congress.  This  series  is  given  a 
volume  number.  The  first  seventeen  volumes  were  a  subsidized 
publication,  and  it  is  now  comparatively  difficult  to  secure  a  set. 
Under  the  printing  law  of  January  12,  1895,  this  series  has  become 
one  of  the  publications  which  are  distributed  to  depository 
libraries. 

Suggestions  for  cataloging  statutes-at-large  may  be  found 
below,  in  the  paragraph  under  revised  statutes. 


Revised  Statutes 

This,  the  sixth  form  of  the  statutes,  is  an  occasional  compila- 
tion of  the  statutes  in  force.  Two  such  compilations  have  been 
issued,  viz. :  the  editions  of  1873  and  1878  respectively,  a  continua- 
tion being  now  in  course  of  publication. 

The  treatment  on  the  card  of  these  last  three  forms  of  the 
statutes,  viz. :  the  session  laws,  the  statutes-at-large  and  the 
revised  statutes,  clearly  suggests  itself  from  their  mode  of  issue. 

24 


They  may  be  considered  serials,  or  continuations,  and  treated  as 
each  library  has  for  itself  adopted  its  own  method  for  this  form 
of  publication.  These  three  forms  of  the  statutes  are  the  only 
forms  cataloged  in  the  Document  Catalog  issued  from  the  office 
of  the  Superintendent  of  Documents.  A  library  having  a  fair 
collection  of  United  States  laws  will  do  well  to  arrange  its  author 
cards  in  groups,  pointing  out  the  various  groups  by  means  of  a 
projecting  guide  card.  Such  groups  may  include  first  bills, 
second  session  laws,  third  statutes-at-large,  fourth  revised  stat- 
utes, and  fifth  collections.  In  a  library  where  a  large  quantity 
of  bills  had  been  cataloged  the  compiler  found  it  useful,  instead  of 
attempting  here  the  usual  alphabetical  arrangement,  to  pencil  on 
the  line  of  the  author  entry  (i.  e.,  United  States),  and  immediately 
following  it,  the  word  or  phrase  used  as  the  subject  of  the  bill, 
obtaining  thereby  an  alphabetical  subject  arrangement  under 
author  entry.  A  general  alphabetical  arrangement  under  author 
being  out  of  the  question,  a  chronological  arrangement  meaning- 
less, a  numerical  arrangement  impossible,  this  was  the  only  re- 
maining solution,  and  it  has  proved  satisfactory. 

A  word  of  caution  seems  necessary  concerning  the  early 
prints  of  the  session  laws.  It  is  known  that  there  are  various 
editions  of  the  laws  of  some  sessions,  a  bibliography  of  them  has, 
however,  never  been  made.  It  is  not  sufficient,  therefore,  to 
make  only  a  series  card  (see  form  4  below)  for  the  early  session 
laws,  without  supplementing  it  with  a  more  detailed  card  on 
which  the  full  imprint  is  given  for  the  laws  of  each  session.  (See 
forms  1-3  below.)  In  the  absence  of  a  bibliography,  or  a  known 
complete  file  of  editions,  the  compiler  is  unable  to  definitely  cite 
a  date  when  such  individual  care  no  longer  becomes  necessary. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  up  to  1819,  or  the  second  session  of 
the  fifteenth  Congress,  when  the  contract  system  of  government 
printing  was  inaugurated,  a  variety  in  the  editions  of  the  laws  of 
a  session  of  Congress  may  exist,  and  up  to  this  period  the  laws 
may  require,  therefore,  a  fuller  bibliographical  treatment  than  is 
necessary  for  the  later  session  laws. 


Early  Session  Laws 


Form  I 


United  States.  Statutes.     i?8p. 

Acts  passed  at  a  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
begun  and  held  at  the  City  of  New  York,  on  Wednesday  the 
fourth  of  March,  in  the  year  M,DCC,LXXXIX.  And  of  the 
Independence  of  the  United  States,  the  thirteenth.  New  York: 
Printed  by  Francis  Child's  and  John  Swaine,  Printers  to  the  United 
States,  n.  d.  xiv,  16-93.,  (i)  clxv-clxxvii  pp.  F°. 


Form  2 


United  States.  Statutes.     1789. 

Acts  passed  at  a  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
begun  and  held  at  the  City  of  New  York,  on  Wednesday  the 
fourth  of  March,  in  the  year  M,DCC,LXXXIX,  and  of  the 
Independence  of  the  United  States,  the  thirteenth.  Being  the 
acts  passed  at  the  first  session  of  the  first  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  to  wit,  New-Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Con- 
necticut, New-York,  New-Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  South-Carolina,  and  Georgia ;  which 
eleven  states  respectively  ratified  the  Constitution  of  Govern- 
ment for  the  United  States,  proposed  by  the  Federal  conven- 
tion, held  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  sevententh  of  September, 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven.  Richmond:  A. 
Davis,  printer ,  [1789.]  xiv,  15-79,  (0  PP-  F°. 


26 


Form 


United  States.  Statutes.     1790. 

Acts  passed  the  third  session  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  begun  and  held  at  the  City  of  Philadelphia 
on  Monday  the  sixth  of  December,  in  the  year  M.DCC.XC: 
and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  the  fourteenth. 
Philadelphia:  Printed  by  Francis  Childs  and  John  Swainc,  printers 
to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  [1790.]  I  1,  288-277  pp. 
(3)  PP-  F". 


Later  Session  Laws 

Form  4 


United  States.  Statutes. 

Session  laws  of  the  United  States  from  the  ist  sess.,  45th 
Cong.,  to  the  3d  sess.,  53d  Cong.,  1877-1893.  Washington, 
1877-1893.  21  vols.  4°. 


Statutes-it-Large 


United  States.  Statutes. 

Statutes-at-large  of  the   United   States,     v.    1-28.     Boston, 
Washington,  1848-95.    8°  and  4°. 


27 


Revised  Statutes 


United  States.  Statutes. 

Revised  statutes  of  the  United  States,    ed.  i.     Washington, 

1875.     4°- 

Same.     ed.  2.     1878.     4°. 

These  2  vols.  form  pt.  i  of  v.  18  of  the  Statutes-at-Large. 


Contemporary  Prints  of  Single  Laws 

In  the  early  congresses  it  was  the  custom  to  print  a  limited 
number  of  copies  of  acts  which  had  received  the  approval  of  the 
President,  and  to  which  it  was  the  habit  of  the  Secretary  of  State 
to  affix  his  signature  in  manuscript.  Copies  of  these  acts  so 
endorsed  are  occasionally  met  with,  and  an  example  of  the  cata- 
loging of  them  is  given  below. 

As  is  well  known  there  is  no  record  in  existence  of  a  com- 
plete file  of  the  original  prints  of  the  documents  of  the  congresses 
preceding  the  fifteenth.  Did  such  a  record  exist,  it  would  include 
all  imprints  of  official  publications  issued  between  March  4,  1789 
and  Dec.  i,  1817.  Their  detached  mode  of  issue  makes  it  neces- 
sary that  an  absolute  chronological  arrangement  by  year, 
month  and  day  be  observed  in  the  filing  of  the  entries  of  the 
documents  of  this  period.*  And  as  the  contemporary  prints  of 
single  laws  have  perhaps  a  greater  historical,  or  bibliographical, 
than  textual  interest,  it  may  be  better  worth  while  to  file  the  cards 
in  the  chronological  arrangement  with  the  early  documents,  than 
with  the  statutes.  If  that  is  the  case  a  slight  modification  in  the 
cataloging  of  them  is  necessary.  The  first  example  shows  a  con- 
temporary print  of  a  single  law  cataloged  to  file  with  statutes, 
and  the  second  example  shows  the  same  print  cataloged  to  file 
in  the  chronological  arangement  of  early  documents,  to  be  more 
fully  discussed  hereafter. 

*Se2  New  York  Public  Library  Bull.  November,  1899. 

28 


United  States.  Statutes. 

Second  Congress  of  the  United  States  At  the  First  Ses- 
sion, begun  and  held  at  the  city  of  Philadelphia;  in  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  on  Monday,  the  twenty-fourth  of  October, 
1791.  An  Act  granting  farther  Time  for  making  Return  of  the 
Enumeration  of  the  Inhabitants,  in  the  District  of  South  Caro- 
lina. Approved,  Nov.  8,  1791.  n.  t.  p.  i  1.  F°. 


United  States.  1791.     Nov.  8. 

Second  Congress  of  the  United  States  At  the  First  Ses- 
sion, begun  and  held,  etc. 


In  addition  to  the  various  prints  of  the  laws  outlined  above, 
there  are  collections  of  laws  relating  to  a  particular  subject  as, 
for  instance,  laws  relating  to  navigation,  internal  revenue,  etc. 
Such  collections  are  usually  compiled  by  those  officers  having 
jurisdiction  over  that  branch  of  the  administration  concerned 
with  the  subject  of  the  compilation.  The  authorship  of  these 
compilations  may  be  assigned  to  the  compiling  bureau  as  follows : 


United  States.  Internal  Revenue  Office. 

Internal  revenue  laws  in  force  July  i,  1889.     Washington, 
316  pp.   8°.     (Treasury  Dcpt.) 


29 


Foreign 

a.    Collection  on  special  subject. 


Peru.  Statutes. 

Reglamentos  de  ferrocarriles  del  Peru  y  de  senates  para 
los  mismos.     Lima:  Imp.  del  Estado,  1876.     63  pp.     24°. 


b.     Single  law. 


Peru.  Statutes. 

Ley  organica  de  municipalidades  sancionada  por  la  legis- 
latura  ordinario  de  1892.  Lima:  Imp.  del  Estado,  1892.  2  p.l., 
37  pp.  8°. 


c.     General  collections. 


Switzerland.  Statutes. 

Amtliche  Sammlung  der  Bundesgesetze  und  Verordnun- 
gen  der  Schweizerischen  Eidgenossenschaft.  N.  F.  v.  1-15. 
Bern,  1875-97.  8°. 

v.  i-io,  ser.  i;  v.  11-15,  ser-  2-  French  title:  Recueil  of- 
ficiel  des  lois  et  ordonnances  de  la  confederation  suisse. 


State.  The  first  paragraph  on  the  federal  statutes  (p.  17) 
is  applicable  to  the  statutes  of  the  commonwealths  as  well, 
modified  only  as  is  required  by  the  difference  in  administrative 
organization. 

In  most  states  the  procedure  in  publishing  preliminary  prints 
of  the  laws  is  similar  to  that  outlined  for  the  federal  government. 
The  final  form  of  the  statutes  of  the  commonwealths  only  can 
be  considered  here,  for  not  only  does  the  legislative  routine 
regarding  the  preliminary  issue  of  statutes  vary  largely  in 
the  different  states,  but  it  would  be  so  nearly  impossible  for 
libraries  to  secure  copies  in  any  but  the  final  form,  that  no  purpose 
would  be  served  here  by  an  enlargement  upon  those  statutes  con- 
cerning the  preliminary  publication  of  which  it  might  be  possible 
to  secure  any  information. 

In  the  main  the  same  forms  suggested  for  preliminary  federal 
laws  may  be  followed  in  cataloging  preliminary  state  laws,  having 
a  care  always  to  preserve  the  distinctions  which  characterize  each 
one  of  these  classes  of  laws.  For  instance,  a  library  making  a 
feature  of  municipal  affairs  may  want  the  prints  of  the  Ripper  bill 
introduced  in  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania  in  1901.  The  treat- 
ment for  this  bill  should  be  identical  with  that  adopted  for  any 
federal  bill,  care  being  taken  to  show  the  proper  date  and  title, 
and  the  various  editions  of  the  bill  which  the  library  possesses. 
This  last  is  a  fact  more  difficult  to  ascertain  in  the  case  of  state 
statutes,  but  on  the  other  hand  it  is  a  very  uncommon  thing  when 
as  many  editions  are  printed  as  have  been  shown  for  the  federal 
statutes.  Very  necessary  in  this  connection,  as  showing  the 
method  employed  by  various  states  in  framing  and  destroying  its 
laws,  is  the  legislative  manual,  or  its  equivalent,  published  by 
most  states  and  issued  from  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 

Such  forms  of  the  statutes  of  the  commonwealths  as  are 
commonly  procurable  are  the  single  acts,  the  session  laws,  the 
revised  statutes,  general  collections  and  collections  of  laws  on 
special  subjects,  forms  of  each  of  which  are  illustrated  below. 

Codes  are  as  a  rule  private  publications,  but  whether  pri- 
vately or  officially  published,  codes  may  be  cataloged  as  are  the 
general  collections  of  statutes.  Examples  are  shown  in  the  last 
two  items  under  "General  collections"  below. 


General  collections 


North  Carolina.  Statutes. 

Laws  of  the  State  of  North-Carolina.  Published,  accord- 
ing to  Act  of  Assembly,  by  James  Iredell  .  .  .  Edenton: 
Printed  by  Hodges  Or  Wells,  prtrs.  to  the  State  ...  1791.  iv,  712, 
xxii  pp.,  il.  f°. 


New  Hampshire.  Statutes. 

The  public  statutes  of  the  state  of  New  Hampshire,  to 
which  are  prefixed  the  constitutions  of  the  United  States 
and  state  of  New  Hampshire :  with  a  glossary  and  digested 
index.  Manchester:  J.  B.  Clarke,  1891.  xix,  912  pp.  4°. 


Colorado.  Statutes. 

Military  code  of  Colorado,  also  rules  and  regulations  for 
the  government  of  C.  [olorado]  N.[ational]  G.  [uard]  Denver: 
Rockv  Mountain  Book  and  Job  Print,  1886.  70  pp.  12°. 


Mills  (J.  Warren) 

Mills'  annotated  statutes  of  the  State  of  Colorado.  Em- 
bracing the  general  statutes  of  1883,  and  all  general  laws 
enacted  since  that  compilation  (except  the  code  of  civil  pro- 
cedure) in  force  Jan.  i,  1891.  Chicago:  E.  B.  Myers  &  Co., 
1891-97.  3v.  8°.  (Colorado.  Statutes.) 

32 


Collections  on  special  subjects 


Texas.  Statutes. 

Laws,  orders  and  contract  on  colonization,  1821  to  1829, 
under  which  Colonel  Stephen  F.  Austin  introduced  and  settled 
emigrants  in  Texas.  Translated  from  the  Spanish.  Saltillo, 
1829.  58  pp.  8°. 


New  York  State.  Statutes. 

Parts  of  the  revised  statutes  relating  to  banks  and  mon- 
eyed corporations.  Together  with  the  Safety  Fund  Law. 
Passed,  April  2,  1829.  n.  t.  p.  56  pp.  8°. 


As  was  pointed  out  in  the  case  of  federal  statutes,  where  the 
collection  of  material  in  any  one  of  these  classes  is  likely  to  be 
extensive  the  use  of  the  projecting  guide  card  is  recomended. 


Revised  statutes 


New  York  State.  Statutes. 

Laws  of  the  state  of  New  York,  passed  ...  in  ...  1777- 
1801,  being  the  1-24.  session,  including  .  .  .  revised  acts  of 
that  session.  Republished  by  the  Secretary  of  State.  Albany, 
1886-1887.  5v.  8°. 


33 


Single  acts 


Confederate  States  of  America.  Statutes. 

A  bill  to  be  entitled  An  Act  to  establish  the  court  for  the 
investigation  of  claims  against  the  Government  of  the  Con- 
federate States.  Jan.  27,  1863.  Reported  without  amend- 
ment, and  ordered  to  be  placed  upon  the  calendar  and  printed. 
n.  p.  [1863.]  9  pp.  8°.  ([i.  Cong.,  3.  sess.]  House  Bill,  No.  5.) 


Missouri.  Statutes. 

An  act  for  the  relief  of  the  banks  of  the  state  of  Missouri. 
Approved  March  18,  1861.  St.  Louis:  G.  Knapp  &  Co.,  prtrs., 
1861.  ii  pp.  8°. 


Session  laws 
Inclusive  arrangement : 


New  York  State.  Statutes. 

Laws  of  the  state  of  New  York  from   the  20.  to  the  122. 
sess.     1797-1899.    New  York,  Albany,  1797-1899.    8°. 


or,  Check-list  or  tabular  arrangement  :* 


New  York  State.  Statutes. 

20.  sess.     1797.     New  York:  W.  Robyns,  1797. 

21.  sess.     1798.     Albany:  L.  Andmvs  &  Co.,  1798,  etc. 

*For  an  example  of  this  arrangement  see  N.  Y.  P.  L.  Bull.  May,  1900,  p.  170. 

34 


Miller  (Lewis  M.) 

[Index  to]  The  compiled  laws  of  the  state  of  Michigan, 
1897  .  .  .  Lansing:  R.  Smith  Prtg.  Co.,  1899.  665  pp.  4°. 
(Michigan.  Statutes.) 


Matthews  (James  M.) 

The  statutes  at  large  of  the  provisional  government  of  the 
Confederate  States  of  America,  from  the  institution  of  the  gov- 
ernment, Feb.  8,  1861,  to  its  termination  Feb.  18,  1862,  inclu- 
sive. Arranged  in  chronological  order.  Together  with  the 
constitution  for  the  provisional  government,  and  the  perma- 
nent Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  the  treaties 
concluded  by  the  Confederate  States  with  Indian  tribes.  Rich- 
mond: R.  M.  Smith,  prtr.  to  Congress,  1864.  xvi.  41 1,  xlviii  pp.  8°. 
(Confederate  States  of  America.  Statutes.) 


The  last  two  entries  illustrate  a  personal  author  entry  for 
statutes  and  supplementary  statutory  publications,  as  indexes,  etc. 
The  italicized  words  in  curves  after  the  imprint  indicate  the 
official  author  entry,  which  is  made  in  addition  to  the  above 
personal  author  entry. 


35 


Foreign 

a.     Collections  on  special  subject. 


Geneva  (Canton).  Statutes. 

Loi  generate  stir  les  routes,  la  voirie,  les  constructions, 
les  cours  d'  eau,  les  mines  et  1'  expropriation.  Du  juin  1895. 
Geneve:  Imp.  W.  Kundig  &  fils,  1895.  76  pp.  8°. 


b.     Session  laws. 


Ceylon.  Statutes. 

The  legislative  enactments  of  Ceylon,  1849-99.     Colombo, 
1849-99-    8°. 


c.     General  collections. 


Jamaica.  Statutes. 

The  laws  of  Jamaica :  comprehending  all  the  acts  in  force, 

passed  between  the  32d  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Charles  II 

.  .  .  and  the  nth  year  of  the  reign  of    ...  George  IV,  1680- 

1830.     St.  Jago  de  la  Vega:  A.  Aikman  and  Office  of  the  Royal 

Gazette,  1792-1831. 


Municipal.  In  the  United  States  the  municipal  acts,  called 
ordinances,  are  those  local  laws  passed  by  the  proper  assembly, 
or  governing  body  of  the  corporation,  for  the  government  of  that 
corporation. 

These  ordinances  are  published  in  a  variety  of  fashions.  In 
some  cities  (St.  Louis  and  New  York)  they  form  a  continuous 
series  corresponding  to  the  session  laws  of  the  states.  In  other 
cities  (Beverly,  Mass.)  they  are  included  in  the  annual  volume  of 
city  documents;  in  others,  again,  they  are  issued  in  occasional 
volumes  devoted  wholly  to  the  ordinances,  or,  as  is  more  fre- 
quently the  case,  they  are  issued  together  with  the  charter. 
(See  p.  16.) 

The  author  entry  for  ordinances,  as  for  statutes,  does  not 
vary. 

A  city  may  issue  a  single  ordinance  on  a  given  subject,  collec- 
tions of  ordinances  on  a  given  subject, all  the  ordinances  published 
as  a  series,  and  revised  ordinances. 

It  is  suggested  that  these  three  groups  be  kept  distinct  from 
each  other  in  the  catalog,  that  each  group  be  provided  with  a 
guide  card,  and  that  a  sub-arrangement  for  each  group,  which  in 
the  last  two  cases  should  be  chronological,  be  adopted. 


a.     Ordinances  published  serially. 


New  York  City.  Ordinances. 

Proceedings  of  the  Boards  of  Aldermen  and  Assistant  Al- 
dermen, and  approved  by  the  mayor.  Being  ordinances,  reso- 
lutions, &c.  passed  by  both  boards,  &  approved  by  the  mayor, 
v.  i -20,  23-65.  New  York,  1835-97.  8°. 


37 


b.     General  collections  of  ordinances. 


Brooklyn.  Ordinances. 

Laws  and  ordinances  of  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  together  with 
such  general  laws  of  the  state  as  affect  the  city  in  its  corporate 
capacity.  Compiled  and  published  by  order  of  the  common 
council.  New  York:  Bergen  &  Tripp.,  prtrs.,  1865.  i  p.l.,  394, 
20,  xvii  pp.  8°. 


c.     Collections  of  ordinances  on  a  special  subject. 


Charleston  (S.  C.)  Ordinances. 

Ordinances  of  the  city  of  Charleston,  in  relation  to  pilots 
and  pilotage,  and  quarantine ;  also,  the  act  of  the  general 
assembly  of  South  Carolina,  in  relation  to  free  negroes  and  free 
persons  of  color  entering  the  port  of  Charleston.  Charleston: 
Walker,  Evans  &  Co.,  prtrs.,  1859.  28  pp.  16°. 


d.     Revised  ordinances. 


Charleston  (S.  C.)  Ordinances. 

Ordinances  of  the  City  Council  of  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina, passed  since  the  incorporation  of  the  city,  collected  and 
revised  ...  by  A.  Edwards.  Charleston:  W .  P.  Young,  prtr., 
1802.  v  p.  8°. 


TREATIES 

A  treaty  is  a  compact  between  two  or  more  independent 
nations  with  a  view  to  the  public  welfare.  In  the  United  States 
the  power  of  making  or  ratifying  treaties  is  vested  in  the  Presi- 
dent, by  and  with  the  consent  of  the  Senate.  In  most  monarchies 
it  is  vested  in  the  Sovereign.  In  the  language  of  modern  diplo- 
macy the  term  "treaty"  is  restricted  to  the  more  important  inter- 
national agreements,  especially  those  which  are  the  work  of  a 
congress,  while  agreements  dealing  with  subordinate  questions 
are  described  by  the  more  general  term  "conventions".  For 
cataloging  purposes  this  distinction  between  a  treaty  and  a  con- 
vention may  be  disregarded. 

As  was  pointed  out  in  the  case  of  statutes,  no  one  body,  or 
any  combination  of  bodies,  technically  can  be  considered  the 
author  of  a  treaty.  It  is  an  affair  of  two  or  more  nations,  and 
properly  cannot  be  subordinated.  While  the  representation  which 
is  responsible  for  the  measure  is  more  extensive  in  the  case  of 
statutes  than  in  the  case  of  treaties,  in  which  case  in  the  United 
States  the  responsible  representation  is  vested  only  in  the  Execu- 
tive and  the  Senate,  the  fact  remains  the  same  that  the  responsible 
agents  are  not  the  authors. 

The  logical  author  entry  for  all  treaties,  conventions,  etc.  is 
a  direct  entry  under  country ;  thus  the  treatment  of  those  two 
closely  allied  forms  of  official  literature,  viz. :  statutes  and 
treaties,  will  not  only  be  identical  but  it  will  be  simple  and  direct 
as  well. 

Treaties  are  published  both  separately  and  collectively. 
Collections  of  treaties  are  either  general  or  national.  General 
collections  of  treaties  are  as  a  rule  private  enterprise  ;  for  example, 
"Martens  et  Stoerk.  Nouveau  recueil  generale  de  traites  et  autres 
actes  relatifs  aux  rapports  de  droit  international".  National  col- 
lections of  treaties  are  as  a  rule  official  publications;  for 
example,  "de  Clercq.  Recueil  de  traites  de  la  France" ;  or, 
"Hertslet.  Complete  collection  of  treaties  ...  at  present  sub- 
sisting between  Great  Britain  and  foreign  powers". 

"The  first  official  compilation  of  the  treaties  concluded  by 
the  United  States  with  foreign  powers  was  prepared  in  accor- 
dance with  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of  Congress  approved  April 
18,  1814.  The  plan  for  the  publication  was  drawn  up  by 

39 


Attorney-General  Rush,  and,  being  concurred  in  by  Secretary  of 
State  James  Monroe,  the  latter  appointed  John  B.  Colvin  as  "a 
competent  person  to  prepare  and  superintend  an  edition  of  the 
same".  The  compilation  was  published  in  1815,  is  known  as 
Bioren  and  Duane's  edition  of  the  laws,  and  is  entitled  Laws  of 
the  United  States,  v.  i. 

"The  next  compilation  appears  to  have  been  that  published 
in  Washington  in  1827,  by  Jonathan  Elliott,  and  entitled/'Diplo- 
matic  code  of  the  United  States  of  America,  embracing  a  collec- 
tion of  Treaties  and  Conventions",  etc.  from  1778  to  1827.  In 
1834  Mr.  Elliott  re-issued  the  work,  corrected  to  date,  and  with 
considerable  additions.  This  edition  is  styled:  "The  American 
Diplomatic  Code  [etc.].  Also  a  Concise  Diplomatic  Manual, 
containing  a  summary  of  the  Law  of  Nations".  Little  and 
Brown,  in  1848,  published  a  volume  containing  the  treaties  and 
conventions  of  the  United  States,  concluded  up  to  that  date.  It 
is  known  as  v.  8,  Statutes-at-Large. 

"On  February  I,  1871,  the  Secretary  of  State  transmitted  to 
the  Senate  copies  of  the  treaties  and  conventions,  except  postal 
conventions,  entered  into  by  the  United  States.  This  compila- 
tion was  printed  as  Senate  ex.  doc.  36,  3d  sess.,  41  st  Congress. 
It  was  reproduced,  and  forms  part  2  of  v.  18  of  the  Revised  Stat- 
utes published  in  1875. 

"In  September  1873,  Mr.  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  then  Assistant 
Secretary  of  State,  and  under  whose  supervision  the  foregoing 
compilation  was  published,  prepared  what  he  styled  a  revised 
edition.  This  edition  was  the  first  which  contained  an  historical 
introduction  or  commentary,  not  in  the  form  of  foot  notes  but 
in  the  shape  of  a  connected  narrative  of  the  correspondence  with 
each  country,  giving  a  history  of  the  negotiations  relative  to 
matters  in  dispute  under  the  several  treaties.  The  collection  was 
provided  with  two  indexes,  an  "Analytical  Index  of  the  sub- 
jects referred  to  in  the  several  Treaties",  and  a  "Synoptical 
Index,  containing  the  titles  of  the  several  treaties  and  conven- 
tions, and  a  synopsis  of  their  respective  contents". 

"In  August  1876,  Mr.  John  L.  Caldwalader,  who  succeeded 
Mr.  Davis  as  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  published  a  supplement 
to  the  latter's  collection,  paged  so  that  it  could  be  bound  with  it, 
and  containing  the  treaties  exchanged  between  Sept.  I,  1873 

40 


the  date  of  issue.  The  indexes  were  constructed  and  the  new 
treaties  provided  with  notes  prepared  on  the  same  plan  as  were 
those  of  Mr.  Davis".  (HaswelL  Treaties  and  Conventions, 


The  next  edition  of  the  collected  treaties  of  the  United  States 
was  published  in  1889.  It  was  compiled  by  Mr.  John  H.  Haswell, 
and  follows  closely  the  plan  of  Mr.  Davis.  This  compilation 
was  also  issued  as  Senate  ex.  doc.  47,  2d  sess.,  48th  Congress. 

The  last  printed  collection  of  treaties  of  the  United  States 
was  compiled  by  Henry  L.  Bryan,  who  for  twelve  years  had  had 
charge  of  the  editing,  indexing  and  printing  of  the  Statutes-at- 
Large.  It  is  entitled  "Compilation  of  the  treaties  in  force",  and 
was  issued  in  1899.  It  is  also  printed  as  House  doc.  276,  2d  sess., 
55th  Congress. 

Collected  treaties,  when  without  personal  compiler  according 
to  the  title  page,  are  entered  only  under  official  author,  otherwise 
under  personal  compiler  and  official  author. 

Individual  treaties  are  entered  under  the  name  of  each  con- 
tracting country,  with  a  reference  when  the  treaty  is  better  known 
by  a  specific  name,  as  Jay  treaty,  Treaty  of  Ghent,  etc.  This 
method  reverses  that  suggested  in  the  Dictionary  Catalog  Rules, 
§50.  The  uniform  method  of  always  entering  under  a  country  is 
recommended  for  the  reason  that  the  majority  of  treaties  of 
which  single  copies  find  their  way  into  libraries,  are  the  important 
treaties  which  have  specific  names,  and  whose  extraction  would 
leave  little  of  consequence  under  the  official  author.  Moreover 
these  single  treaties  as  a  rule  take  individual  subjects,  so  that  no- 
where in  the  catalog  would  there  be  a  complete  representation 
of  the  library's  collection  of  treaties. 

With  the  treaties  arranged  in  the  catalog  in  groups,  as  was 
suggested  for  statutes,  according  to  method  of  issue,  i.  e.,  in  this 
case  collected  treaties  and  single  treaties,  and  the  latter  again 
arranged  chronologically,  a  direct  reference  from  the  specific 
name  of  the  treaty  to  the  chronologically  arranged  author  entry 
can  very  easily  be  made,  as  Jay  treaty,  see  U.  S.  Treaties,  1794; 
or,  Ghent,  Treaty  of,  see  U.  S.  Treaties,  1814.  It  still  rei.iains  a 
question  whether  the  informed  student  would  not  look  under 
U.  S.  Treaties  before  he  would  look  under  Jay  Treaty  for  this 

41 


particular  document.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  uninformed 
reader  would  look  for  Jay  treaty  first. 

In  the  United  States  each  treaty  agreed  upon  is  printed  in 
full  in  the  session  laws,  and  a  general  reference  can  be  made  to 
this  series.  Treaties  are  fully  analyzed  in  the  Document  Cata- 
log, and  few  libraries  can  afford  to  have  them  again  completely 
analyzed  in  their  individual  catalogs. 

Individual  treaties  may  also  be  printed  as  documents,  with 
or  without  the  accompanying  presidential  message  of  transmittal. 


Collections  of  treaties 
a.     Official  author  only. 


United  States.  Treaties. 

Treaties  and  conventions  concluded  between  the  United 
States  of  America  and  other  powers  since  July  4.  1776.  Wash- 
ington, 1889.  xiii,  1434  pp.  8°. 

Also  in  :  48th  Cong.,  2d  sess.,  Sen.  ex.  docs.  v.   I,  pt.  2 

[2262.] 

b.     Official  author  and  personal  compiler. 

[Bryan  (Henry  L.)] 

Compilation  of  treaties  in  force.  Prepared  under  act  of  July 
7,  1898.  Washington:  Govt.  Prtg.  Office,  1899.  xviii,  779  pp. 
8°.  (U.  S.  Treaties.) 


The  italicized  words  in  curves  after  the  imprint  indicate  the 
official  author,  for  which  an  additional  card  is  made. 

42 


Single  treaties 
a.     American  print 


United  States.  Treaties.     1898. 

A  treaty  of  peace  between  the  United  States  and  Spain. 
Message  from  the  President  .  .  .  transmitting  a  treaty  of 
peace  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  signed  at  the  city 
of  Paris,  on  Dec.  10,  1898.  Washington,  1899.  12,  677  pp.  8°. 
(55th  Cong.,  3d  sess..  Sen.  doc.  62,  2  pts.) 


A  duplicate  card  with  Spain  as  author  entry  is  made. 
b.     Foreign  print. 

Trinidad  and  Tobago.  Treaties. 

Reciprocity  with  America.     Convention.     Trinid-ad:    Govt. 
Prig.  Office,  1899.     4  pp.     f°.     (Council  Paper  106  of  1899.) 

Foreign 
a.     American  print.     Single  treaties. 


Japan.  Treaties.     1 886. 

Copy  of  treaty  [of  amity]  between  Japan  and  Hawaii. 
[Concluded  at  Honolulu,  January  28,  1886.]  n.  t.  f>.  5  pp. 
8°.  (U.  S.  55th  Cong.,  2d  sess.,  Sen.  doc.  64.) 

A  duplicate  card  of  the  above  with  Hawaii  as  author  entry 
is  required. 

43 


b.     Foreign  print.     Collection  of  treaties. 


Collecgao  de  tratados  e  concertos  de  pazes  que  o  Estado  da 
India  Portugueza  fez  com  os  reis  e  senhores  con  quern  teve 
relagoes  nas  partes  da  Asia  e  Africa  Oriental  .  .  .  Lisbon, 
1881-87.  v.  1-14.  8°.  (Portugal.  Treaties.) 


The  above  is  an  illustration  of  a  title  entry,  the  italicized 
words  in  curves  after  the  imprint  indicating  the  official  author, 
for  which  a  card  in  addition  to  the  above  should  be  made. 


b.     Foreign  print.     Single  treaty. 


Tractaet  van  vrede,  ende  mutuelle  commercie  ofte  entre- 
cours  van  koophandel  besloten  tot  London,  1495  den  14. 
Februarij,  tusschen  Hendrik  VII  Koninck  van  Engelant, 
ende  Philip,  eerts-hertoch  van  Oosten-rijck  .  .  .  overgheset 
uyt  de  .  .  .  Latijnsche  copye.  s'  Graven-Hagc,  1651.18  11. 


In  addition  to  the  above  title  card,  official  author  cards  are 
made  for  each  contracting  party  ;  in  this  case  the  official  author 
cards  would  be  Great  Britain.  Treaties,  and  Austria.  Treaties. 


44 


Index 


Acts,  U.  S.  federal 22 

Bills,  U.  S.  federal 18 

Charters,  municipal 16 

Codes 31 

Congressional  record 

index  to  bills,  how  used  ....  20 
Constitution 

Federal,  foreign 12 

U.  S 10 

State,  foreign 15 

U.  S 13 

Municipal  charters 16 

ordinances 37 

Pamphlet  laws,  U.  S.  federal  ...  24 

Resolution,  U.  S.  federal 18 

Revised  statutes 

federal 24,  28 

state 33 


Session  laws 

early  prints 25,  28 

federal      24 

state 34 

Slip  laws,  U.  S.,  federal 23 

Statutes 

Federal,  foreign 30 

U.  S 17 

Collections,  special      .    .  29 
early  prints      ...       25,  28 

Revised 24,  28 

State 36 

Codes       31 

Collections,  general  ....  32 
special          --33 

Revised 33 

Session  laws 34 

Statutes-at-large,  U.  S 27 

Treaties,  foreign 39 

U-  S 39 


